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Breastfeeding
Possible to "ruin" your LO??
I was induced on 8/1 due to pre-eclampsia and had LO on 8/3. I was on magnesium sulfate the entire time and she was soooooo lethargic the entire time we were in the hospital. We tried waking her up to BF and the nurses were even unsucessful. We were told we would have to supplement with formula/bottle because she just was not eating.
Here we are, 9 days later, trying to BF but not having much success. I've seen several lactation consultants from the time we were in the hospital until now and the last appointment LO just screamed the entire time because she was so hungry but wouldn't latch. I was told to keep trying but in the meantime to pump and give it to her from the bottle.
I've tried slow flow nipples thinking that the bottles we were giving her were getting her used to the faster flow, tried pumping a little to get the nipple ready then trying to BF, etc. Does anyone have any advice for me? I really want to BF and this is breaking my heart.
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Re: Possible to "ruin" your LO??
I had the hardest time breastfeeding. LO spent her first night in the NICU where they gave her a bottle of formula. After that she wouldn't latch. I got help from two doulas, three midwives, and was in contact with some LLL leaders. Still nothing.
They recommended cup feeding formula the first night. After that we syringe fed. I pumped like crazy, and my milk came in on day three. From there we syringe and finger fed LO, offering my breast around once a day. We did this for three weeks before we finally went to a bottle.
I then went to a breastfeeding clinic to be seen by an MD who told me to use a nipple shield. It worked (even though I had tried this before and it didn't work), and LO quickly weaned from the shield. I'm now breastfeeding, and LO won't even take a bottle! (I tried to give her one today to give my poor nipples a break). It's never too late, and if it's something you really want to do, you can do it! Don't give up!
We also did the syringe/finger feeding for the first two weeks. Then we moved to a bottle. Playtex drop-ins with slow flow nipples (she said to use the long kind?). We were told to sit him in our lap straight up with our hand behind his neck and to hold the bottle straight (not at an angle) so the milk doesn't flow easily and he has to work for it. Also, we were told to make him latch onto where the nipple gets wider, not just around the end of it. We did this for another 4 weeks until I finally saw another lactation consultant. At 6 weeks, I was finally able to start BFing. Until then I was EPing and it sucked balls. I was getting really depressed over it. I hope it works out for you! It took a long time, but I'm so glad that I stuck it out.
thank you SOOOOOOO much for the advice ladies! i was just asking my mom if she thought a nipple shield would work. i'm going to pick up a couple tomorrow and try it out.
at least it gives me hope that we can still keep working at it and succeed. i just hated the thought that because i HAD to give my baby a bottle, i might have ruined her on the breast forever.
We actually had the opposite problem, DD would NOT take a bottle, I EBF for about 5 weeks then started pumping so DH could feed her too, everyone says to have someone else introduce the bottle, etc, we did it by the book with no luck so I tried. Maybe you could do the opposite of what I did:
I started her on the breast, let her eat until she was relaxed and then quickly switched her over to the bottle, it took a few times but eventually it worked, HTH!
BFP#2 4/4/12 EDD: 12/13/12 m/c at 8w2d
BFP#3 8/18/12 EDD: 5/1/13 Beta @13DPO: 61, Beta@15DPO: 216
Baby BOY!
Was your LO by any chance premature?
Ours was and the first week or so of feeding was awful. She was sleepy, which is a characteristic of late preterm babies. It was nearly impossible to wake her up to eat or to keep her awake for long enough to breastfeed. Every feeding, I would pump to get the milk to start flowing easily, then I'd breastfeed as long as she would suck (sometimes not long) and then we'd give her a bottle (at first formula and then EBM as my milk came in). After that first week, it got better as she got more mature and we haven't given a bottle of anything for almost three weeks now.
my LO was in the nicu for a week so he got bottles and formula during that week. I still tried to feed him a few times a day. Once he came home for the first week we would breastfeed first and then i would offer a bottle of pumped milk afterwards. I would try for 10 mins each time to get him to latch, if he wouldn't latch then i would just do the bottle. it took about a week to get him back to the breast. i also would put breastmilk in a siringe or dribble some done my boob as he was trying to latch. Sometime my Dh had to help with this. Also the football hold was the only way i could get him to latch at first too.
Keep trying it will get easier even though it probably is hard and frustrating now. Let us know how it is going, i think the more support you have the easier it can get.
I also had complicated pregnancy and delivery. My LO would not latch on either. I had 3 different LC's and many nurses trying to help me. I thought I was going to loose my mind. My DD screamed every time I would put her to the breast and I would feel so bad. I felt so conflicted because I didn't want to confuse her with the bottle, but I didn't want her to be hungry.
I ended up tyring the nipple sheild with a syringe and tubing behind it to drip in formula at first (my milk came in late). Once DD got the idea, I could get her latch onto the sheild after several tries. Sometimes I would have to give her a bottle for a minute or two to get a little somthing in her stomach and then pull a 'bait and switch' where I would then try to get her to latch onto the sheild. You have to be careful with nipple sheilds, though, because sometimes the baby doesn't get much milk even after sucking for hours. At every feeding I would still try to get DD to latch on to the breast. (Keep trying this!) And finally she latched on one day. She was around a week old. It was a really rough start and it was hard to get her latched at feedings, but she eventually got the hang of it and, a year later, I am still nursing.
Basically, I am telling you all this because I had a similar situation and I felt your pain. DD did get some bottles at first, but I did what I had to do and I don't think it ruined her because she eventually 'got it'. Keep trying at every feeding to get her to latch. Football hold is what worked for me, even though many people think that is the most difficult. Keep pumping, too (everytime the baby eats), to help your milk supply come in. I'm sure you probably already know that, though. Good luck!